hed it, he saw that it was a bright yellow metal. It came over
him all at once, with a shock that made him faint, that he had
stumbled upon some part of the treasure; he put the bar aside, and
then, first looking all round to see that none observed him, he dug
into the bank. In a moment his spade struck something hard; and he
presently uncovered a row of bars that lay close together. He dragged
them up one by one, and underneath he found another row, laid
crosswise; and another row, and another, till he had uncovered seven
rows, making fifty bars in all. Beneath the lowest row his spade
slipped on something round and smooth; he uncovered the earth, and
presently drew out a brown and sodden skull, which thus lay beneath
the treasure. Below that was a mass of softer earth, but out of it
came the two thigh-bones of a man.

The sky was now beginning to grow dark; but he dug out the whole of
the pit, working into the bank; and he saw that a round hole had been
dug straight down from the top, to the sandstone. The bones lay upon
the sandstone; but he found other bones at the sides of where the gold
had lain; so that it seemed to him as though the gold must have been
placed among dead bodies, and have rested among corruption. This was a
dim thought that lurked in an ugly way in his mind. But he had now dug
out the whole pit, and found nothing else, except a few large blurred
copper coins which lay among the bodies. He stood awhile looking at
the treasure; but together with the exultation at his discovery there
mingled a dark and gloomy oppression of spirit, which he could not
explain, which clouded his mind. But presently he came to himself
again, and gathering the bones together, he threw them down to the
bottom of the pit, as he was minded to conceal his digging from the
men. While he did so, it seemed to him that, as he was bending to the
pit, something came suddenly behind him and stood at his back, close
to him, as though looking over his shoulder. For a moment the horror
was so great that he felt the hair of his head prickle and his heart
thump within his breast; but he overcame it and turned, and saw
nothing but the trenches, and above them the ragged sky; yet he had
the thought that something had slipped away. But he set himself
doggedly to finish his task; he threw earth into the holes, working in
a kind of fury; and twice as he did so, the same feeling came again
that there was some one at his back; and twice turning